The Washington Capitals have won the Stanley Cup.
It seems insane typing that - so integrated into the lore of the NHL is it that the Capitals will be amazing in the regular season and choke in the Playoffs, that the only crazier things I can think of happening are that the Leafs win a Cup, the Coyotes qualify for the Playoffs or Peter Chiarelli makes a good trade.
Covering the Capitals for the last couple months has been really fun. To be honest, after being switched over from the covering the Coyotes, it was a bit of a transition. Covering the Coyotes was the first writing job I ever had that paid. I came into this job knowing nothing about the Coyotes and I really immersed myself in them. So much so that they surpassed Edmonton as my second favorite team and I really began to cheer for them.
That took almost five years. So starting fresh with the Caps was a bit weird at first, but it turns out the same thing happens - if you learn everything you can about a team, and follow them constantly and watch most of their games, you can't really help but cheer for them.
I know the media is supposed to be neutral, and maybe one day if I have to pretend to be I will, but my style is almost all emotional and visceral and so I don't even pretend. I wanted the Capitals to win and they did. I couldn't be happier.
But I am shocked that this happened.
As is well known in our little comment section community, I predicted the Capitals would miss the Playoffs. I said that their coach and GM were among the worst in the league.
And I stand by that.
Look: winning the Stanley Cup is awesome, but it also requires a great deal of luck. The Capitals and the Golden Knights outperformed where the stats said they should finish by about as much as it's possible to do so.
No stats, or analysis is perfect, and while it's likely that the teams were just anonomilies that will fall back to normal next season, there could also just be gaps in the way we evaluate teams - if we had 100% correct answers, there would be nothing to debate and this wouldn't be much fun.
BUT teams that score a lot of goals while having bad overall shot metrics don't have a good history of maintaining their success (Washington). And teams that rely on legendary goaltending performances and high shooting percentages that lead to career years (Vegas) don't either.
But we will see.
Given all the information I had at the start of the season, I'd still pick both these teams to miss the Playoffs. But I'm glad they didn't. I could care less about being right, and I think we were just treated to one of the best Playoffs, and especially the Finals, that we've seen in a long, long time.
It's hilarious that the team I write about won the Cup when I was so critical of them, but that's just the way she goes sometimes!
As for the coach, Barrie Trotz, he was universally considered to be fired unless the Capitals won the Cup, and he knows that, so he'll probably use this as a chance to now reject them. I am no fan of Trotz the coach (the man himself seems like a super guy) because I think he's too old school and I think benching Burakovsky, Vrana and Holtby were beyond terrible moves that just happened to work out in his favor.
Could it be that he knew what he was doing and he motivated them into excellence? I don't think so because they were already doing excellent when he benched them. But that's another thing we are all entitled to have our own opinions about. I think one thing, but I don't claim its the right thing.
And McClellan? He's brutal. But he also just won the Cup, so what can you do? Peter Chiarelli is still going to be a terrible GM when Edmonton wins the Cup. In a league where more than half the GMs are incompetent, bad ones are bound to win.
But again, maybe he is good at his job and I am just bad at mine. It's a possibility I am totally open to.
It's not that unlikely!!
Last summer he replaced Justin Williams with Chandler Stephenson. He replaced Marcus Johansson (who he gave away) with Devonte Smith-Pelley. He replaced Kevin Shattenkirk with Michel Kempny. Winnick with more of Beagle.
I didn't see one single hockey writer or analyst, or Caps fan, defending those moves. The vast majority of people I talked to felt like it was the end of an era, that the Caps window to win a Cup with the Ovechkin Backstrom combo was shut.
Then Nate Schmidt was lost for nothing and the salary cap was completely bungled when they gave too much term and money to Oshie (and arguably even to Kuznetsov considering the state of the team at the time).
No team in the NHL lost more during last summer's off-season. Not by traditional stats, not by just looking at the name brands, and not by wins against replacement.
But somehow it worked out. Is he secretly a genius or did he bungle his way into glory?
That's up to you because at the end of the day NOBODY CARES BECAUSE THEY WON THE STANLEY CUP.
And this thing - writing about sports teams - is just for fun. You get some right, and you get a lot really really really wrong. (At least I do!). But the fact it's not entirely predictable is what makes it great.
No one could have foreseen a Vegas and Washington Final, but I'm glad we got one.
I still think it's wild either team made the playoffs (let alone won a division) but I'm glad they did. The last six or eight weeks or whatever it was, were a complete blast.
And that T.J Oshie contract is still brutal. You know that it is !! hahahah
xxoo
- Jim